


Something Brewed

by Just_here_for_a_laugh



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Amortentia, Angst, Anosmia, Fluff, Get together fic, Getting Together, Good Peter Pettigrew, Happy Ending, He Gets a Hug, Insecurity, James Potter Being an Idiot, James Potter is a Good Friend, Love Confessions, M/M, Marauders, Marauders era, Mild Angst, Peter Pettigrew is a Good Friend, Pining James, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin Fluff, a twist on an old favorite, werewolf shenanigans, wmpp, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 10:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29666202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_here_for_a_laugh/pseuds/Just_here_for_a_laugh
Summary: Anosmia: having no sense of smellRemus has anosmiaThe wolf does notA little twist on an old favorite: amortentia fic
Relationships: Marauders & Marauders, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 11
Kudos: 111





	Something Brewed

Remus plonked down his books onto the desk and sighed. Looking around the potions class he watched everyone flutter around abuzz with excitement, and he couldn’t help the twinge of jealousy that pulled at his stomach. Today was the day that every Hogwarts student waited for from the moment they first heard about it: today they were brewing amortentia. Finding their deepest desires, experiencing the best smells imaginable, and maybe even discovering a few secrets about their peers, the day presented endless possibilities. For everyone but Remus that is, because along with every other cruel joke the universe had decided to play on him, Remus had anosmia. It didn’t really tend to bother him that much, not being able to smell; it was usually at worst a passing annoyance, and sometimes it even came as a blessing like when the rest of the Marauders had been left gagging for a week after Snivellous’ stink bomb prank. Occasionally though, on days like today, his disadvantage and resentment hit him full force. To add insult to injury the wolf could smell. Remus had reasoned with himself countless times that it was more necessary for the wolf to be able to smell in order to track scents and to pick up signs of danger, but it still chuffed him a bit that the wolf could bend down and smell the flowers out by the Whomping Willow and he could not.

  
Soon enough Remus was broken out of his brooding lament as Slughorn called the class to order and began explaining the process for brewing amortentia. It wasn’t an easy mix but Remus was rather skilled at potions and before too long he had a concoction which appeared to be the correct color and consistency. However, there was one glaringly obvious problem standing in the way of Remus checking his own work.

  
“Padfoot!” Remus hissed quietly, trying to get his friend’s attention without alerting Slughorn. If he had done it wrong he would rather the professor not know until Remus had determined whether or not he could fix it and save his grade. The long haired boy glanced over and, upon seeing the insistent look on his friend’s face, slipped over to Remus’ table.

  
“What’s up?” he asked.

  
“I need you to tell me if I did this right,” Remus explained, “since I, you know, can’t…”

  
“Oh,” Sirius answered, a hint of a blush creeping up his cheeks. “Yeah, right, sure.” He leaned over the cauldron and breathed in deeply. Remus’ nerves lit up for just a moment as Sirius moved in closer like he wasn’t sure he could smell it, but calmed as he watched Sirius’ body relax, all unconscious tension in his shoulders seeming to dissipate and a small smile form on his lips. Sirius took one more deep breath and raised up, looking his friend in the eyes. ‘Yeah, Moony,” he said warmly, “you did it right.” Remus smiled wider than he meant to looking into his friend’s soft silver eyes, but that was nothing new.

  
Coming back into somewhat of a more normal air, Sirius smiled again, this time more casually, and turned to head back towards his table. “I’ll see you tonight; we’ll all meet up at six and start walking over to the Shack.” Remus nodded and smiled as Sirius threw a cheerful “Later Moons,” over his shoulder as he left. He watched his friend walk back to his own table and wondered in the back of his mind what it was that Sirius had smelled in the potion, before pushing the thoughts away. Back into the recesses of his mind where he couldn’t fixate on them, where they couldn’t make him sad. Shaking himself out of it, Remus raised his hand.

  
“Professor Slughorn!”

  


  


Sirius walked back to his own table and sighed. It had been exactly as he had expected. He had known what he would smell, had known for ages, and while he had hoped he would be able to confirm his suspicions in the privacy of his own cauldron, when Remus had asked him to test his potion Sirius had also known that it would be correct (it was Remus after all), and that he was going to have to do this right in front of him. It was almost hard to tell with Moony standing right next to him, but once he got in close Sirius could distinguish that the smell of wool, maple leaves, parchment, chocolate, and ink was coming from the potion as well and not just the boy standing beside him. Faint whiffs of leather and Eudora Potter’s homemade shortbread confirmed Remus’ accuracy. He was grateful that Remus hadn’t asked him what he had smelled. Not that he had expected him to, Moony of all people was one to respect people’s privacy, but being able to put to rest the what ifs running through his head was a relief. He began putting the final ingredients into his own potion when he caught a glimpse of James with his hand in a cauldron and his mouth in a grin.

  
“Prongs, what are you doing mate?”

  
“It works!” his friend beamed back at him.

  
“So you what? Decided to give the bottom of the cauldron a high five?”

  
“I figure if I wear the potion like a cologne-”

  
“Lily will find you irresistible, right” Sirius finished for him, rolling his eyes. James nodded excitedly and Sirius couldn’t help but laugh. “I think she’s a little smarter than that, Prongs. Besides, you know that’s not a Lily-specific potion right?”

  
“Well yeah obviously.”

  
“So if this plan of yours works, what do you intend to do about the throngs of other girls chasing after you because you smell like candy and apples and the love of their lives?”

  
“That’s what I’ve got you for,” James joked as he flashed another grin. Sirius laughed and shook his head.

  
“I’ll pass. Why don’t you ask Peter or Marlene? Better yet ask them both, let them duel for the hand of the fairest maiden.”

  
“Deal,” James laughed. Sirius shook his head fondly and turned back to his potion.

  


  


Early the next morning, Remus blinked against the pale light coming in through the Shack window. His muscles ached and his spine was sore, and there was a gash on his left leg that felt cold as a breeze blew against it even as it burned just underneath. He tried to sit up but started to tumble over, only to be caught by Peter.

  
“Hey, Pete,” he tried, voice quiet and gravelly. Opening his eyes fully he saw his friends looking at him in silent concern.

  
“Are you okay?” Peter asked. Remus furrowed his brows and stared back in confusion. As far as he could remember it had been a pretty light night, and he didn’t feel any worse off than he tended to after the Full, so he couldn’t figure out what had his friends so on edge.

  
“No worse than usual,” he answered tentatively, “why?”

  
“You were acting really weird around me,” James answered and then gestured to Sirius, “both of us actually.”

  
“It was like you couldn’t figure out who we were,” Sirius said. Peter nodded.

  
“You kept going up to Prongs and circling him like you were confused. Then you’d go do the same thing to Padfoot.”

  
“Well you both smelled the same,” Remus croaked out, once again trying to sit up.

  
“They both smelled the same? How do you mean?” Peter asked. He turned to James and Sirius. “Did you both get into something last night? Like a plant or something that smells? Like basil?”

  
“Where are we gonna find basil, Wormtail?” Sirius asked. Peter shrugged.

  
“No,” Remus shook his head, “it was weird, it wasn’t like they had something on them, it was like their base smell was the same. You know, like their identifying scents. I couldn’t tell them apart.” Neither Remus nor Peter saw, but the other two boys suddenly became very still.

  
“Do you think your anosmia is starting to affect the wolf?” Peter asked. Remus groaned. As poetic and just as that would be, he thought, the wolf really did need a sense of smell.

  
“I hope not,” Remus sighed. He put his head on his knee and felt Peter’s sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

  
“Moony,” James started, but he paused. Remus opened his eyes to see a strange expression on James’ face, one that looked somehow both scrutinizing and cautious, with bespeckled eyes glancing back at Sirius every few moments. It was Sirius’ expression though which struck him most. The young man looked even paler than usual and his jaw had gone slightly slack as those silver eyes Remus loved so much stared at him entirely unreadable. He was about to ask him what was wrong when the sound of James clearing his through refocused Remus’ attention back on him. “Did we both smell the same?” Remus blinked in confusion,

  
“Yes that’s what I said, you-”

  
“Or,” James cut him off, “did I smell like Padfoot?” Remus stopped. In the face of the aches and pains he hadn’t really thought about it clearly enough to analyze it once he had shifted back, but that had been what had thrown the wolf. It wasn’t that his friends had some matching smell changing their typical scent, but that there had seemed to be two of Padfoot, one dog shaped and one deer shaped. Remus looked up at James.

  
“How did you know?” Remus heard Sirius take a quiet, sharp intake of breath while James just gave a small smile.

  
“Come on Wormtail,” he said as he stood up, “I think we need to give Moony and Pads a minute.”

  
“Um, okay,” Peter said, a little unsure but standing nonetheless. James was a lot more perceptive than most people gave him credit for, so if he thought something was important Peter would take his word for it. Remus watched his two friends head into the tunnel,noting absently as he turned back towards Sirius that Peter seemed to be complimenting James on his new cologne.

  
Sirius sat in front of him slightly less pale but no more talkative than he had been a moment ago. His eyes were downcast and Remus noticed he was toying with the edge of his shoe. They sat across from each other quietly for a moment until finally Remus broke the silence. “So,” he began, not really knowing where to begin (because in truth he had no idea what was going on or why it had been apparent to James), “did you lick Prongs a bunch right after you guys shifted or…?” Sirius snorted a laugh and the tension in the atmosphere lessened. The long haired boy shook his head fondly in spite of himself and looked up at his friend.

  
“No, can’t say that I did.” Remus tossed him a lopsided grin and Sirius felt his heart melt in his chest. This shouldn’t be hard; this is exactly what he wanted, but nothing in Sirius’ life was ever that simple. Or in Remus’ for that matter. What if Sirius’ family found out? What if that led them to discovering Remus’ furry little problem? What if he couldn’t escape his family nature and ended up hurting Remus? What if Remus convinced himself he’d hurt Sirius? What if this destroyed their friendship? What if this destroyed the Marauders? There were so many questions swirling around in his mind and not one of them was new. However, none of them would enable him to avoid the question not in his head but sitting between them, the garish pink and purple spotted elephant in the room: Why had James smelled like Sirius and how had James known?

  
“Sirius?” came Remus’ voice. Sirius closed his eyes and sighed.

  
“James was wearing amortentia.” He looked up at Remus whose eyes were as round and large as the full moon itself.

  
“James was wearing amortentia,” Remus repeated barely above a whisper, trying to process the information. He looked at Sirius and the instant that their eyes met he tried to scramble away. He wasn’t able to get very far due to his injuries and Sirius darted forward and reached out. He was careful not to touch him lest he touch a sore place or startle the boy, but he held his hand out close to the young Welsh wizard to try and calm him. “Hey, hey,” he said soothingly, “hey, it’s okay, relax, you don’t have to go anywhere. Calm down, you’re gonna hurt yourself, it’s alright.” Remus stopped moving, but the look of panic did not leave his face. All he could do was shake his head.

  
“Why?” he choked out.

  
“Another desperate attempt to woo Lily. I told him she wouldn’t be the only one who could smell it but he didn’t listen, of course.” Sirius saw tears start to well up in Remus’ eyes and his heart instantly broke. He wanted to stop this awkward kneeling and capture the boy in a hug, to hold him and tell him everything would be okay, but he knew that right now Remus would only pull away. He had to do something though, so he did the only thing he could.

  
“I love you,” Sirius nearly shouted. Remus froze, and though it was Sirius who had just faced his greatest fear in admitting his feelings, Remus looked so vulnerable that Sirius couldn’t help but sink down on his knees in front of him.To bring himself level with those beautiful warm eyes that looked like amber and oak and fire and chocolate, like every sunset that had ever taken Sirius’ breath away and like every sunrise he wanted to spend in Remus’ arms. He took Remus’ hand and again he whispered, “I love you.”

  
“What?” Remus breathed.

  
“I love you Remus, completely.” Surprising even himself with his latest admission, Sirius looked down at Remus’ hand in his and ran his thumb over the soft skin. “You’re what I smell,” he smiled shyly. “Shortbread and leather and you. Soft jumpers and dusty books and ink smudged everywhere; it’s you.” He looked up. “It’s always been you.”

  
Remus sat dumbstruck and looking into Sirius’ eyes, those eyes that always held a joke or a scheme or a fire, that shone brighter than any others he had ever known, and saw nothing but loving sincerity. This wasn’t possible, he had to be dreaming, or going crazy, or - something! He started to pull away, to stutter and babble on about how Sirius was confused, how he must be mistaken, how this would never work how he shouldn’t love a monster, but Sirius squeezed his hand and suddenly he couldn’t make himself pull away.

  
“None of that matters. I know what all you’re gonna say and I’ve got a list just as long, but it’s all rubbish. There’s only one thing that matters to me Moony: you.” Sirius took Remus’ other hand in his as well and smiled. “I love you.”

  
Remus could barely keep track of where his mind was spinning and what thoughts were flashing through his head, so he decided not to, and focused instead on what he felt at the center of it all, far past his mind and his logic, building instead in his very core. Looking once more into Sirius’ loving and hopeful eyes, he threw himself forward and pressed their lips together. It was ill timed and ungraceful, and it was perfect. He felt Sirius’ soft lips against his own chapped pair and the brush of his nose on one of his scars. He felt the satiny waves of Sirius’ hair as moved to pull him closer and a calloused hand on the back of his neck as Sirius did the same, and as the kiss ended he felt the place where their foreheads touched and Sirius’ breath ghosted across his lips.

  
“I love you too,” Remus breathed, “I love you so much.”

  
The two stayed like that for a long while, simply together knowing that the other was there and that they always would be; noses pressed together, hands intertwined, and grins rivaled only by each other’s.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Trans people are great. I don't agree with JKR on anything and all terfs are cordially invited to fuck right off. I do not own Harry Potter or anything associated with it. If I did I would treat the fans and characters so much better. Books belong to their readers, don't let her transphobia, antisemitism, racism, and general bigotry destroy what you love. Love is love and people are people. Happy reading!


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